 Editor's note: Because a large majority of Capital Region restaurants that opened in the past year were lower-priced eateries, we are devoting a series of reviews to casual-dining spots, as identified by the "Order Up" heading on the reviews. Formal, starred fine-dining reviews, labeled "Matters of Taste," will return in late May or early June, on alternate weeks from Order Up reviews.

Lark Street finally has pho, the aromatic version sold on Bangkok's Chao Phraya River, its beef broth humming with cilantro, cinnamon and star anise. And tonkotsu ramen — egg noodles, egg and pork belly swimming in milky, 10-hour pork broth. You'll find them at TapAsia in the cozy, rustic basement formerly home to the wine-focused Flow from the Garden. Now you know, go and get some. My work here is done.

Lark Street, Albany's downtown "village in the city," is somehow always on the edge of what people think it should be. Or could be, never quite living up to the expectations of those outside. It's missing an artisanal bakery or new breed general merch stores selling beautiful, unnecessary things; it remains the affordable late night playland for resident bright-eyed youth. More alternative and rough around the edges than cutting-edge hip, Lark Street holds perennial appeal for startups and eateries, some as short-lived as pop-ups, while others dig in and become the fabric of the street.

Those who think of the '90s as peak Lark will recall coffee shop culture in full flow, Shades of Green vegetarian restaurant, two options for live jazz and Marilyn Manson popping into Café Hollywood after shows. They'll also remember Lark Street Music, a vintage guitar shop where visiting rock stars from Robert Plant to Sheryl Crow faithfully made stops. Since Buzzy Levine relocated, his former space has been in near-constant evolution, and it's in the basement (where he stored the cases of the guitars on sale upstairs) that TapAsia has made its home.

Handicapped accessible: No. (Steps down from the street. Grandfathered in.)

Price ratings for inexpensive eateries based on average of entrée costs:

$: $9.95 and less

$$: $9.95-$15.95

$$$: $15.95 and higher

Chef-owner Natalie Warner's TapAsia is among a squad of new businesses — several women-owned — breathing life back into a street that for a few years was a gaunt version of its former gutsy self. (At least, that's how it looked from the outside. But everyone who's ever moved out of Center Square looks back through rose-tinted glasses. And friends who see the '80s as Lark Street's heyday found the grungy Kurt Cobain years pretty bleak.)

At first glance, the expansive TapAsia menu appears to have staggered around the Far East, cobbling together favorites from Warner's native Thailand to Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan. But, in this pedestrian neighborhood, it makes total sense that TapAsia would offer a little-seen selection of street food among its dozen-plus tapas, the source of its name.

Kicking off our street food ambition tour is karaage ($7), Japanese fried chicken nicked from the Chinese. It's some kind of wonderful, with dense, crunchy batter and chicken marinade-tender, but I went slightly crazy over a semitranslucent garlic aioli as irresistible as a purée of softened garlic cloves. Warner nails takoyaki ($8), an Osaka street food popularized in the 1930s, made in special pans that look exactly like cake-pop trays. With thin, pancake-batter shells, the crispy spheres have creamy, soft centers filled with diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and scallions. I'm sold at the drizzle of mayo, green laver (aonori) and bonito flakes. They're so seriously good, I very nearly ordered a batch to take home.

Though TapAsia skips popular pork belly among its steamed buns, our wild-mushroom bao ($7) goes in tantalizing East-West directions with shiitake and enoki mushrooms paired with truffle oil and avocado. Som tum ($9), the classic Thai salad, is presented as a literal cornucopia, citrusy matchstick-thin green papayas and carrots spilling out of a rounded horn. These plate aesthetics speak to Warner's culinary-arts training in Bangkok and restaurant experience there and in Chicago, where she worked in Thai and Japanese restaurants for eight years.

The chunky coconut Massaman curry ($15) is a surprisingly thick version of the southern Thai dish and arrives with an admirably geometric black sesame rice crisp. The dish has all the right aromatic flavors, but it's disconcerting to get several mouthfuls of woody star anise — like bay leaves, better taken out by the kitchen than accidentally chewed. Pad Thai ($13) — authentically flavored with homemade shrimp paste, tamarind, chile, palm sugar and lime — proves simultaneously exciting, unusually offered "royal-style" in a thin omelet wrap ($3 extra), but it's disappointing, too, with super thin rice noodles stickily wadded up.

In that, the reason is clear: Though Warner is the chef talent behind the house-made curry pastes, slow-simmered broths and recipes, this is very much a one-woman show. As the lone front-of-house staffer, she greets, pours drinks and serves, installing less experienced help in kitchen — someone she is teaching to make her dishes. Although we were one of only three tables, a handful of neighborhood locals cheerily wandered in, sitting at the three-seat bar and ordering takeout. These folks took a good deal of Warner's attention, leaving tables sometimes desperate for refills or the bill.

TapAsia has been open since January, and my sense is that as business grows, Warner will feel justified in hiring staff. With just a smidge more attention, things will only get better. TapAsia's short stack of pan-Asian small plates and street snacks isn't going to upset nearby Thai, Japanese or Chinese places. It's another option, a complement to the mix. And with Lark & Lily, Stacks, Brew and Rain Modern Chinese alongside, there's once again reason to head to Lark Street.

Dinner for two — including four tapas, three entrées and four glasses of wine — came to $115.56 with tax and tip.

Susie Davidson Powell is a freelancer writer from East Greenbush. Follow her on Twitter, @SusieDP. To comment on this review, visit the Table Hopping blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.